Ravindra Jadeja is the best all-rounder in all three formats: Deep Dasgupta

India, 14th February, 2023: The first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was a showcase of utter domination by Team India. Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front both on the field and when batting, scoring a century and making some crucial decisions during the match. Ravindra Jadeja was brilliant with both bat and ball, bagging a fifer and scoring a gritty half century. Ravichandran Ashwin became one of the fastest bowlers in the world to reach 450 wickets.

With such stellar performances, Deep Dasgupta spoke about Team India’s performance in the first game, broke down the key players and gave his take on whether Australia will bounce back in the series.

Speaking exclusively on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’, former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta spoke on how Rohit Sharma led from the front in the first test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

“Both captaincy and runs, the way he has captained from day one itself, made the right decisions, knew when to change the bowlers, key changes, bowling changes and DRS for that wicket. If you look back, it was the first wicket of the day, it looked like it was missing, but to take that call, in the second over of the first day, you could have lost the review right? So that’s the kind of captaincy that he wants to do, what he wants to achieve. And we saw that with his batting as well. And talking about his batting, the way he paced his innings, that was like a complete test match innings," he said.

Dasgupta also spoke about the comeback of Ravindra Jadeja after his injury and how his mental discipline shone through in his performance.

“Absolutely, and that too after a break of six months. He had some first class cricket but this is Australia, they are international cricketers. And after six months to showcase such temperament and discipline in both his batting and bowling, he played more than 150 balls, and the thing about Ravindra Jadeja is that he has so many different shots, he plays a safe innings and keeps a normal strike rate. This is the mental discipline that we see in his bowling as well. That’s the reason he is considered one of the best and in my opinion he’s the best all-rounder in maybe all forms," Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta also spoke about Australia’s chances of making a comeback after their humiliating loss in the first Test.

“They can bounce back, if you look at it only from a talent perspective, then they certainly have the potential to make a comeback. With a few changes, a lot of good players who weren’t available for this match will be available. But the big question is do they have they mentality to do it? Can they do it mentally? When India lost in Adelaide last year, we mentally came back, from that 36 all out situation. Can Australia mentally come back? That is the big question," he added.

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